Who would have the thought to attend a banquet at this time? Anyone with any sense would know that they should hibernate at this time and not act too high-profile.
Especially the emperor, when the people all over the world are suffering, he should not sing like this every night. This will only make the people's impression of him worse.
But they didn't know that the emperor seemed to have already given up.
He didn't care about the opinions of these people at all. He even issued an edict to punish himself twice for these people, but he still didn't ask for rain.
He has been doing this sincerely, but if it doesn't rain, the only thing to blame is the people who deserve to die.
In this way, he felt that living his life well was the most important thing.
The whole place was so quiet that you could almost hear a pin drop. No one dared to answer at this time.
Everyone knows that asking this question is probably a trap.
Seeing that no one answered, the emperor asked again, "Is it possible that all of you, my beloved ministers, no longer like this palace banquet?"
This question is so different from the previous question that no one dares to answer this question. What does it mean to look down on this palace banquet?
People who say this must despise themselves for living too long.
Although the emperor has long been unpopular with the people, his imperial army is still frightening. As long as the emperor's imperial army is still there, officials like them will have to pretend to be in front of the emperor.
"Your Majesty, I think this palace banquet is very meaningful."
Not long after, someone stood up and his words were quite complimentary.
By this time, everyone knew what they meant, but it happened that they had to say such words at this time.
When the emperor heard that it was very meaningful, he immediately restrained his temper and said, "Oh~ what is the meaning? Please tell me quickly, my dear."
The official who had just spoken quickly knelt down in front of the emperor, "Looking at the whole world that is suffering from drought, Your Majesty, you are worried that I will be tired of this disaster all day long and have prepared this palace banquet for us. We are very grateful.
"
As soon as he said these words, almost everyone present changed their expressions.
This is truly flattering, and it really makes me feel uncomfortable no matter how I listen to it.
The emperor did not think so. He was worried that he would not be able to find a chance to clear his name. This is exactly what the minister said now.
When he was happy, he rewarded it.
"The humble minister thanks the emperor for his kindness."
Nowadays, when it comes to rewards, there are very few things that can actually be obtained. I don’t remember when the emperor’s rewards started to become cash notes.
They dare not imagine what the emptiness of the national treasury will look like. If this continues, where will their future be?
They didn't dare to think about these problems before, but now they have to think about them.
This country probably has no future.
The emperor laughed a few times and said, "The country needs to be more considerate during this special period."
After saying this, the emperor glanced at everyone at the palace banquet, "Everyone must have brought their wives with them today. As long as there are no concubines and wives, the wives in the house are in charge of the power of the middle minister. Today, too,
Let the ladies show their faces and let me see how well they manage each government?"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's hearts were tugged and their faces became very ugly.
They knew that holding a palace banquet at this time would not be a good thing, but in the end they still focused on the money in their hands.
Previously, the Imperial Guard was asked to capture them and avoid the wives at home to take out the money. This time, they were directly asked to bring all the wives over. Was this an attempt to bankrupt them all?
"Master Li, what should we do? The Emperor sings and sings every night. We can't continue to support him like this."
Of the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver they had raised previously, not much was actually used for the country, and most of it was spent by the emperor himself.
"The Emperor is becoming more and more ridiculous now. He is still so extravagant at this time. The people of the world will be disappointed when they know it."
"I wait……"
"Shh... Walls have ears. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it when we get back."
A few officials here were discussing something, but as they were talking, someone with a little more sense stopped the topic. Now they are in the palace, and no place is truly safe. If they say anything, they may be misunderstood.
Those who hear it will be the ones who suffer the most when the time comes.
As soon as this adult reminded them, the others immediately stopped talking.
And the emperor over there has also ordered the queen to bring all the ladies to the venue here. Men and women were separated before, but now everyone is staying in the same hall. The emperor and the queen sit at the top. If you ignore
Despite the severe drought outside, this really looks like a time of peace and prosperity.
But the expressions on each of their faces right now are quite wonderful.
"Queen, you have to treat these ladies well." The emperor looked at the people below and said to the queen in a meaningful way.
The Queen didn't know what the Emperor was thinking right now, so she smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I know."
The emperor nodded with satisfaction.
He turned his attention back to the officials in the hall and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, you are here too, and all of you heads of family are also here. We have nothing to do today, so let's have a competition."
Contest……
What game to play at a time like this?
When everyone heard this, they just felt unstoppable pain in their heads. Now they don't want to compete at all. They just want to go home and quickly think about whether there is any way to solve the current predicament.
But the emperor was very interested.
"You ladies are all good at reading ledgers and calculating accounts. Today we will be in this hall with the accounts of your houses over the past two years. Whoever can calculate the most clearly will be rewarded heavily by me."
Finally, the emperor no longer concealed his purpose and said it directly.
As soon as he said this, everyone below was shocked.
They have lived for so many years and have never heard of any minister needing to settle his family's debts in front of the emperor. Not only did it not happen in the current dynasty, but looking at other dynasties, such a thing has never happened.
But now it happened to them!
"What exactly does the Emperor want to do?"
"Isn't this obvious? This is clearly taking this opportunity for us to consciously hand over money?"
"Silver? What kind of money is there now? Is it possible that all the people in our house don't have to eat? The emperor will not let us go until we are forced to death!"
Many officials no longer cared about the situation and immediately started to lose their temper.
It's just that they really only dare to keep their anger silently in their hearts, and don't dare to express it in public. The only people who can feel it are a few people around them.
Compared with the anger on their side, the ladies are almost paralyzed now.
Although they have been wives of the royal family over the years and have been used to seeing big storms, they have never settled accounts in such a situation. They now know more or less the purpose of the emperor's move.
But if they didn't do this, they would be disobeying the order, and the emperor would probably have them pulled out and executed on the spot.
But if it is calculated...is it true or false?
With the previous lessons, they naturally knew that if they really calculated it this time, some money would definitely fall into the hands of the emperor.
Fake calculations, the consequences of being found out would be unimaginable, and in the end it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.
No matter which one it is, the final result is not very good.
They all knelt there and didn't dare to move at all, and they didn't know what their master was thinking now.
The emperor may have already thought that such a situation would happen. He did not let these women start on their own. Instead, he directly named people among the ministers. Whoever's name was named would start settling accounts.
Sometimes he would also name several people at the same time and let them check each other's account books.
That's right, it's a ledger.
These account books were obtained from outside by the emperor before. I didn't expect that they would be used at this time.
"Liu Aiqing, you should take the lead first. I remember that you and Zhuangzi are both rewarded by me."
The first thing the emperor called was the name of Mr. Liu, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the Zhuangzi mentioned by the emperor did exist. Most of the reason why their family can support their food to this day is because of the money saved by that Zhuangzi.
The food that came down was kept alive.
When his name was called by the emperor, Mr. Liu stood up tremblingly.
"Your Majesty, I usually don't care about these things. I can't read the account books at all. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
What are the accounts of the family like, and how could it be different for him, who is the Minister of Household Affairs? On the surface, court officials are prohibited from becoming businessmen, but they all have some property in their possessions.
Everyone knows these things well.
But this kind of thing cannot be said openly, especially... He also has a brothel that is prohibited by the imperial court!
If this was discovered here, he would probably be exiled on the spot!
When Mrs. Liu heard Master Liu say this, she quickly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it is true that a commoner woman has never taken care of accounts or calculated money in her daily life. Please forgive me, Your Majesty and Empress."
Mr. Liu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, was the first person ordered by the emperor. Naturally, he did not want to see such a result.
"What you have in front of you are your account books. If you don't understand it yourself, you can ask others to help you read it. Maybe others will understand it at a glance, and in the end they can give you some troubles when closing the accounts.
You can also spend less time thinking about it.”
The emperor did not give them any way to retreat, and directly blocked the road here.
Song Chen and Cang Xiuxuan just looked at Mr. Liu on the side indifferently. It is absolutely impossible to say that there are no emotional ups and downs in their hearts.